Cats and Dogs

Post Thanksgiving Humor



I am sure that the link below has been pounded by all of those offended and even those not offended by the Transportation Safety Administration’s new “hands on policy.” Enjoy the laughs.

http://www.joeydevilla.com/2010/11/24/tsa-bumper-stickers/


As funny as the slogans above are, if you’re into financial services issues, you shook laugh until you cry listening to the description of the Fed’s latest “Qualitative Easing 2.”

“Benanke,” indeed!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTUY16CkS-k&feature=player_embedded


Ed Yingling

My favorite banker, Ed Yingling, is retiring as head of the American Bankers Association and reportedly joining a DC law firm (possibly one in which Ed’s late father, Jack, was once a principal).

Ed’s successor is going to be former Oklahoma Governor Frank Keating, who once was in HUD’s’ general counsel’s office, when Jack Kemp was Ronald Reagan’s Secretary.

The ABA‘s selection committee must not have realized that “Governor” Frank Keating cooperated with Fannie when we opened an Oklahoma “Partnership Office” (PO) and was one of the easiest governors with whom to work on housing matters. In reality, the list of Republican elected officials who at any time supported Fannie actually is quite long. (Don’t worry guys I won’t mention any names. Haff, kaff, harrumph, “John Boehner.” Oh crap, excuse me.)

I first met Ed Yingling when he was a young man working with his renowned lobbyist father, Jack Yingling, principal in the law firm Yingling and Shay, later Barnett, Yingling and Shay. Jack (and Ed) represented City Bank (nee Citicorp), among others.

At one time, before matrimony and fatherhood snatched away the handsome younger Yingling, Ed was a regular player in our infamous “poker game," which now has run for more than 40 years with a constantly changing cast of “characters,” with emphasis on the latter. (Suffice to say, it is a far more innocent gathering than rumor has it.)

While I’ve disagreed with bankers and with the ABA, I always liked and respected Ed. In his ABA time, while I was at Fannie, we worked on any number efforts to get Fannie officials and ABA leaders together and build understanding and mutual support.

I wish him all of the best and the same to Frank Keating, who is fortunate to have the very talented Dianne Casey on his association team.

Good Fors…

Good for Jennifer Grey and her dance partner. The Palin kid never was that good. While I begrudge her no spotlight, ABC would have looked idiotic if the worst dancer took home the prize not because of her dancing skills but because of her last name. Suggesting her own victory would represent a “giant middle finger:” to the people in America who “hate her and her mother” Bristol reflected just the appropriate immaturity of someone her age.

Good for the San Francisco City Council overriding the Mayor’s veto and insisting that fast food meals for kids had to pass minimal nutrition tests. We are a fat nation and unhealthy. Our kids will get after unless some tough things—like this and many others-- are done.

Good for the Pope. I’ve dumped on the Vatican enough to recognize that “Yay Pope” is appropriate when he appears to endorse condom use if one of the partners has an active HIV condition.

Good for Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-Ala.), who reports to friends that the House GOP Caucus will name him Chairman of House Financial Services, despite all of the GOP unhappiness with him when he was ranking member. All of there Lilliputians, seeking to chop Bachus off at the ankles have gone onto other things. (Keep walking Michele Bachman (R-Minn)!)

I’ve suggested that Bachus will rule over a restive Financial Services Committee with his party dying to tear apart Fannie and Freddie, but not being able to do so until they have a viable alternative in place and “therein lies the rub!”

Good for GOP Senators Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who are trying to organize their Republican brethren to vote against the $5 Billion ethanol subsidies. Lead gentlemen and they (the GOP Senators and enough D’s) might follow!

Bad Fors…Tom Delay and Charlie Rangel

This next one is going to cost me and I don’t know how to construct it into a “good for.” I don’t share the animus or anger at former Representative Tom Delay (R-Tex) that many of my Democratic friends do. I worked with him, when he was the Minority Whip, because he was willing to support Fannie Mae. I also respected the effort he put into helping abused kids and families.

His political abuses were the equal of what I had come to expect in Washington and similar to what I saw on both sides of the aisle. Yes, he should be punished for the crimes which the Texas jury convicted him, but I hope an extreme prison sentence is unnecessary, as some have demanded.

I also hope that Charlie Rangel (D-NY) does not stain his career standing in the well of the House and being officially reprimanded. Reportedly, he wants to serve in the 112th Congress, but I hope—after proving that his Harlem constituents still support and respect him--he retires before then.

Maloni, 11-29-10